Homing in on solar power

Friday

Apr 1, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Jim Walker, born 75 years ago, is a real Cape Codder, self sufficient, ingenious; his own carpenter, handyman and mechanic.

Lee Roscoe

David Still II pho to SUNSHINE ON A CLOUD Y DAY – The day may have been overcast, but theer was sun in the heart of Jim Walker, as he watched the crew from Clean Energy Design of North Falmouth begin the installation of his new solar array, Thursday. Here, Company principal Tom Wineman (top left) and Bill Krau position the first panel, which was walked up the ladder by Josh Wolfzahn.

Hyannis man’s house a showcase for sun-brewed electricity

Jim Walker, born 75 years ago, is a real Cape Codder, self sufficient, ingenious; his own carpenter, handyman and mechanic. He built his three-bedroom Cape in 1960 with his own two hands. He spent a career with the United States Coast Guard during which he furnished Wood End and Long Point lighthouses in Provincetown with solar panels to power their beacons 30 years ago; the systems are still working.

Because of their success, as chairman of the Cape Cod chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, Walker decided to use alternative energy systems for the electricity at another Provincetown lighthouse, Race Point, starting in 2003. Creating power both by wind (producing at night) and solar (working during the day), the lighthouse is off the grid. With 24 lead acid batteries storing energy, it’s possibly the only complete dual-energy package on the Cape. With the beacon light itself powered by solar, and the hot water to come, it will be one of a kind in sustainable self-sufficiency.

With the lighthouse working so well, Walker decided to power up at home.

You can see his house right off Falmouth Road, Route 28, in Hyannis with its American flag and, any minute now, its brand new set of 24 PV (photovoltaic) panels in three rows of eight, on a roof facing due south. He hated to cut his oaks and pitch pines to limit the shade on the PVs, but he did save the white pines in his front yard.

Walker used to get right up on the roof himself, but this time Clean Energy Design of Osterville is doing the installation. (They put in the solar panels at the lighthouse, too.) For some $32,000 with a state rebate of $10,000 and federal tax credits of $12,000, the electricity-producing roof will pay itself off in four years, running all Walker’s appliances, even the AC.

The solar array is attached to the grid, rather than expensive batteries. Net metering will feed back to NStar when the panels produce extra energy, and take grid electricity as needed. No more $200 to $400 a month bills for Jim and his wife, Sylvia.

Late last week, the front yard was scattered with equipment because his crew has taken off for lunch, but in a few days, all would be back to normal. The work will be hooked up by its inverter to the power in the basement. Walker hopes the array’s visibility will be a beacon to inspire others to do the same.

Next, he’ll reattach his garage’s panels to a new solar hot water tank, and he wants the same out at Race Point. (Folks can stay out at the light, cuddled up to the parabolic dunes, the Atlantic and the temperamental sky, at either the Keeper’s or the Whistle house, named for the lighthouse foghorn Jim removed years ago). Right now a “Munchkin,” a 97-percent efficient gas water heater, does the job providing central heating and hot water at Race Point.

But Walker’s not waiting for a big project to power up; like the independent old time Codder he is, he gets it done himself. He doesn’t create his own biogas, nor grow his food, but Jim does everything else a conscientious conservor should do: recycling plastic, cardboard and anything else he can and now recycling power by solar back to the grid. He says there is nothing but good from solar; we should all do it.

For more information about staying at the lighthouse, go to racepointlighthouse.net.